quarta-feira, 19 de agosto de 2015

Gamification

Ninety seven percent of kids spend an average of
ten hours a week playing video games. It’s hard work, but they keep coming
back. They often fail at whatever they are trying to do, but they persist until
they learn the strategies, concepts, and skills to achieve their goals. Then
they set new ones and come back for more. Games lend themselves easily to
collaboration, and kids often compete with each other. Playing games gives them
immediate and long term feedback. And the games track what they do, where they
fail, where they succeed, and what they learn.

Isn’t that the way we want education to work? So
what is it about games that makes kids try harder and learn more?

1) Games are an optimal learning
environment.

In their chapter Flow in Schools Revisited
in the “Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools,” Chernoff and Chikzentmihalyi
(don’t ask me how to pronounce it or spell it from memory) point out that
enjoyment and interest in school are good predictors of student success. They
propose that an ideal learning environment, just like a game,

presents
challenging and relevant activities that allow students to feel confident
and in control

promotes
both concentration and enjoyment

is
intrinsically satisfying in the short term while building a foundation of
skills and interests

involves
both intellect and feeling

requires
effort and yet feels like play

2) Games focus on
the sweet spot for learning.

If you already know it, there’s nothing to learn,
and if it’s too difficult, it’s not even worth trying. Games work in what is
called the zone of proximal development; beyond what a person can
already do, but not so difficult that they can’t do it with guidance,
persistence, and encouragement.

Many of us waded through Lev Vygotsky’s work on
the development of cognition when we were in school. Games bring his insights
to life, resulting in a $100B industry, and new possibilities to advance
student learning.

3) Games make
people want to persist, plan, and learn.

Games are complex problems waiting to be solved
in a way that is both fun and challenging. What can’t we learn when we are put
into situations that require us to solve problems while having fun and being
challenged?

We need to stop saying, “Let’s make learning
fun.” Learning is hard work, and it is also fun. Every time we learn something,
we get a shot of dopamine in our brains. What’s more fun than that? Games have
crafted their challenges for maximal engagement through a quick cycle of
challenge-act-learn-accomplish so that the hard work of learning is
intrinsically rewarded, and the player (or student or learner) wants to
continue playing and learning.

4) Games
encourage trial and failure

All people who play games fail more than they
succeed. Failure doesn’t mean the player failed, it just means that a
particular approach failed, and game players know that if they persist,
eventually there will be one or more approaches that will succeed, and then
they can advance. Players don’t experience any long-term consequences for
trying and failing. All that counts is that they eventually succeed, and they
will only succeed if they try. They know upfront that any new task or goal may
require multiple attempts.

Many games keep score and hold out rewards for
success, but the reward mechanics are generally one of the least important aspects
of an engaging game. Players play for the challenge and enjoyment. Perhaps we
can model the way we grade in schools on the way games measure achievement and
competence, and figure out a way for grades to help students become
auto-didactics.

5) Games can
simulate situations that are impossible or too costly to create in the real
world

Can a student be a Senator in Washington? Lift a
boulder on Mars? Safely experience the consequences of risky behaviors? Learn
U.S. history by participating in revolutionary activities? With iCivics, a student can
experience what a Congressman, Senator, or judge does while learning about
rules and procedures. NASA has games that are missions to the moon and Mars.
While Zoo
U improves students’ social literacy through interactions in a game. Mission US is a series of games where
students get to play roles at key turning points in U.S. history. These are all
situations that students could only experience in a game.

No amount of computers or technology can replace
a good teacher. Games give teachers the tools to engage student learning in
ways that reflect what we know about motivation, achievement, learning, and the
brain.

As we move from a print to a digital world, we
have an unprecedented opportunity to transform education into something that
works for everyone. Games need to have an integral role if we are to realize
that vision.